Russia Offers Snowden Asylum

According to the Chicago Tribune, Russia would consider granting asylum to Snowden, if he were to ask for it, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said on Tuesday.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stopped short of saying Moscow would accept Snowden, but pro-Kremlin lawmakers spoke out in favour of the idea, tapping into a lingering Cold War rivalry with the United States and a vein of anti-American sentiment Putin has often encouraged.

“Promising Snowden asylum, Moscow takes upon itself the defense of people persecuted for political reasons,” Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the international affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, said on Twitter.

Snowden was also fired from the contracting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. who cited “violations of the firm’s code of ethics and firm policy” he was paid a salary of $122,000 annually, not $200,000 as Snowden had previously stated.

There is no word on whether or not Snowden will take Putin up on his offer yet.